Pure Hate Read Free Page A

some
kids that will.”
    “But Daddy, Mark keeps playing that
stupid hedgehog game over and over and he won’t let me play Gears of War!”
Jennie’s sweet, innocent voice came sailing out of the living room.
    Reed’s seven-year-old daughter Jennie
looked every bit like her mother. She had her mother’s long blonde hair, fiery
emerald eyes, and long legs. Too bad she had her father’s disposition. The face
of an angel with the mouth and temper of a drunken sailor.
    “That Sonic the Hedgehog is a faggot
game!” she taunted, scowling at her little brother with disdain as if she’d
caught him wearing his mother’s panties.
    “Hey, hey, young lady! You watch your
goddamned mouth! Now both of you turn that crap off and get ready for dinner.
I’ve got to finish working goddamn it!”
    “But daddy, I’ve almost got the high scoooore!” Mark
whined in a high-pitched squeal that made his father cringe.
    Mark looked exactly like Reed did at
that age, the same crooked pointy nose and Dick Van Dyke chin, except Reed’s
pants never hung off his ass like his son’s over-sized black denims, and Mark
had a better haircut. Reed’s hair had hung down his back until he was a junior
in college, while Mark wore a short neat crew cut. That’s the first thing Linda
changed about him. They had been flirting with each other in literature class
for weeks before Reed had gotten up the nerve to ask her out. She had given him
her phone number and before their first date they had nearly fallen in love
over the phone. They were getting intimate for the first time when she told
him, “Look, I think you’re great but I can’t go out with a guy who looks like a
damned hippie. If we’re going to date, you’ve
got to cut that hair.”
    He did, and in exchange she had
agreed to another date. Then another, and another, and then she agreed to marry
him, and then she gave him two beautiful
children. But sometimes, like when Mark did that annoying whining thing, Reed
wondered if he should have kept the long hair.
    “Stop whining and turn it off like I
said!”
    “Fuck! Man, this is bullshit,” Mark whined.
    Reed snapped.
    “Damn it, that’s enough! Both of you
get in here now!”
    “Damn it, Mark. See what the fuck you
did? You got Daddy mad, you little punk!”
    “Fuck you!”
    “Fuck you, too, faggot!”
    “I said get in here NOW and
close your mouths!”
    Jennie and Mark walked slowly into
the bedroom where Reed had been banging away at his Mac , trying to wrestle out an opus. Now he stood in
the middle of the room, glaring down at his two little brats with his hands on
his hips. Jennie crossed her arms over her chest and huffed defiantly, rolling
her eyes and stamping her foot the way she’d seen the black girls at school do.
Mark imitated his big sister, crossing his arms and huffing his own annoyance.
Reed fought the urge to slap the shit out of both of them. He took a deep
breath and mustered up the calmest, most diplomatic voice he could manage. He
still sounded pissed.
    “Now, both of you listen. It is
absolutely NOT okay to curse in this house. You are children! You do not
use that type of foul language around your parents! Now, I am trying to finish
this novel so that maybe we can get some bills paid and perhaps have some money
to live off. But, if you think your stupid little video game is more important
than food, clothing, and shelter, then go ahead and keep this shit up.”
    “Oh, but it’s okay for YOU to
curse.” Jennie grumbled under her breath.
    “What did you say, little girl!”
    “The doorbell is ringing.”
    She turned and ran for the door, cutting short her
father’s lecture. Mark looked sympathetically at his father, shrugged his
shoulders, and chased after his sister. Reed threw up his hands and shook his
head in exasperation.
    Jennie flung open the front door and
her jaw dropped as her mind slammed on the brakes. She couldn’t make any sense
of what she was seeing. Mark came running up alongside her